Casus Belli
by K Project
Summary: Wander is lost in memories while trying to save his love.


_**Disclaimer: **Shadow of the Colossus and all associated characters and settings are owned by Sony._

Resemblance to any persons living, dead, or otherwise is purely coincidental.

* * *

He was weary. He was battered, torn, and dirty. He almost laughed. Right now he must look as he did the first time they met.

Ahh, Mono. It broke Wander's heart to see her lying there on the shrine's altar as though she were a relic, or a statue of some long-forgotten goddess. Or that damned sword.

_...The sword gleamed in his hands...A beam of light like a spear aimed straight at Mono's heart..._

He shook off the memory, sending spikes of filthy brown hair flying. _No. Can't think about that now. I still have to finish this._

Wander turned around and looked at the devastation behind him. A row of eight great alcoves stood on either side of the shrine's great hallway, and now twelve of them contained only piles of rubble. The rest held huge statues, each tied to the spirit of a great creature. When the creature was slain, its corresponding statue collapsed to dust and gravel. And Wander's grim task was to destroy them all. So be it. He'd do it even if he had to rip the damned things apart with only his teeth and fingernails. For if he did, poor murdered Mono would be returned to him.

His attention was suddenly drawn to the great hole in the ceiling. The voice of Dormin, demon-god of this barren land, once again spoke to him. "Thy next foe is... The vast desert lands..."

Wander sighed and held up the sword, turning it. The beam of light pouring through the ceiling was reflected by the enchanted blade, and it guided him to the next giant he had to slay. He wondered, not for the first time, if the task was even possible. The last one had almost destroyed him; he'd barely evaded both drowning and the beast's huge club long enough to figure out the best way to slay it.

Mono loved animals. Had loved animals. She wouldn't approve of all this butchery. Doves perched on her delicate fingers and the most timid deer in all the world would come up and eat from her hands.

One last glance at her corpse, however, was all the motivation he needed to continue. Sheathing the sword...

_...That damned sword..._

...Wander whistled for his horse, Agro, and the two of them galloped forth to meet their next foe.

* * *

_It was like something out of the stupid, childish tales Emon always told them. She was a beautiful temple maiden, her virtue dedicated to the otherworldly spirits she served. He was a common servant, toiling wherever the priests didn't care to. He did whatever menial, degrading task he was given. They met one day in the gardens. Wander saw the way she seemed to glow in the sunlight, the gentle smile on her face, the serenity in her eyes when she looked at this little drudge scraping in the dirt. Mono looked absolutely regal, like a princess. Or a queen._

And that was that. The beginning of the end, really.

* * *

_I have to stop this_, Wander told himself. _These old memories won't bring her back._

But it was hard not to remember. Clinging to Agro, he blinked away the tears that burned his eyes.

Agro. Now there was a happier thought. Agro had been the temple's pride and joy, the fastest and bravest and strongest horse they had. The thought of Emon's expression when he discovered that Agro had been stolen as well always brought a smile to Wander's face.

Patting Agro's great neck, the boy rode on.

* * *

_They had a picnic one night. Wander stole a bag of sweets from the kitchen and the two young lovers gobbled them all in the moonlight. He was severely reprimanded afterwards; first for the theft and again for breaking both their curfews, but it didn't matter. Seeing the delight on Mono's face made it all worthwhile._

"They don't let me have sweets," she confided, giggling.

She'd kissed him for that one. They didn't kiss often; Mono was, after all, a temple maiden, and a particularly demure one besides. The feel of her soft lips on his was Wander's most treasured memory.

Mono's, too. It was the last thought in her mind before the end.

* * *

Agro and Wander paused in a forest. It wasn't much of a forest; just a tiny wooded clearing, really. Wander found a place where the light managed to filter through the trees and got his bearings while Agro drank from a little pool.

It wasn't easy, all this riding around and slaying monsters. He stretched out, feeling the soft grass underneath him. Wander closed his eyes, listening to the forest's gentle sounds. He sighed.

Emon had always told him that this land was cursed, that anything living in it fell under Dormin's corruption. The birds he'd seen certainly didn't look evil. And he himself felt the same as usual. Mostly, anyway. The boy scratched the side of his head; there was a slight bump there. He must've been bitten by a mosquito or something. _Oh no! Fear the wrath of the evil mosquitoes! They shall be as a plague upon our lands!_

Laughing, Wander sat up. Agro looked at him as if to inquire about the state of his rider's sanity.

_I've definitely been here too long._

Out of the corner of his eye, Wander spotted motion. Yes, it was another of those white-tailed lizards. He knelt, drew his bow, and fired. One deft shot later, the lizard scampered off _sans_ tail. Wander stuffed it into his mouth. They tasted like mold and had the texture of old leather, but after the quick snack he was filled with new strength. However, it was one more thing that Mono wouldn't approve of.

He'd apologize the next time he saw her.

_Time to go._

* * *

_The grand ceremony. The unveiling of the sacred sword. Damn it. Damn it all._

It had been uncovered from the grave of a great hero, the shaman who had bound Dormin and saved the world from his corruption. The sword was enchanted with the power to destroy evil, and it was a treasure beyond any price.

Wander had been pulled out of his normal duties and made to look respectable. It was quite the treat for him. He usually never got to watch these ceremonies.

The Great Temple was filled with people like never before. Mono and the other temple maidens stood by, their only purpose there to look beautiful and unattainable. Shaman Emon held his new prize high in a fit of theatrics, bathing it in the light that flowed through the temple.

A hush fell upon the jubilant crowd.

For when the sword gleamed in his hands, he explained its power to seek out evil. And as he spoke, a beam of light focused straight on Mono.

She only clasped her hands and bowed her head as Shaman Emon proclaimed her fate.

"It is written that the sword's light shows its wielder the key to Dormin's revival. The girl's fate is cursed. Her very existence is an abomination.

"She must die."

* * *

Wander coughed. The sand was everywhere; in his eyes, his mouth, and his nose. Coughing only made it worse. Nudging Agro onwards, he firmly resolved not to breathe until he was out of the desert.

A low rumble proceeded the colossus' sudden appearance; it simply burst out of the sand. This was an odd one. It flew leisurely above the desert, not even attempting to attack him. The beast looked something like a mutated legless dragonfly; long body, four thin wings, bigger than anything living had any right to be. It was graceful, moving through the sky in undulating waves. Almost beautiful. _This one isn't going to be easy_, thought Wander as he spurred Agro after their target.

* * *

_The rest of the day passed in a blur. They hung the poor girl in a cage, like some filthy animal, above the town square and posted guards about it at all hours. Wander didn't doubt for a minute whose protection those guards were for. He wondered if they expected Mono to sprout horns and ravage the countryside at any moment._

The boy managed, only once, to speak with her. She just smiled, that beautiful smile now tainted with sorrow.

"It's my fate. There will be other girls in your life. Don't weep for me. This must be done."

Wander cursed fate and Shaman Emon and the hero who'd forged the sword in the first place. "I'll free you," he vowed, and he meant it as devoutly as anyone has ever sworn anything.

Mono shook her head as the guards dragged him away.

At sunset, Emon himself led her out of the cage and handed her a goblet. Inside it was the swiftest, most merciful poison ever brewed by the hand of man. She emptied it without hesitation, her eyes fixed on the servant boy the guards were holding back.

The townspeople hailed Mono's courage as her rapidly cooling body was carried off.

Wander, no longer afraid of anything, remembered the tales of a being powerful enough to raise the dead.

Stealing the sword and his love's body was the easy part, he reflected, galloping away on Agro's back. He'd also discovered a bow tied to the horse's saddle. That would doubtless come in handy.

* * *

The first target was easy enough. Clusters of glowing white globes hung from the creature's belly like overripe fruit, and Wander had found that anything glowing tended to be vulnerable. He had also discovered that he was an excellent shot with the bow. The creature screamed in pain and flew lower, as though it could not sustain flight any longer. Its wings scraped against the ground, stirring up huge billowing clouds of dust that did nothing for the visibility. Choking, he noticed that those wings were covered in ridges.

Wander had an idea.

Spurring Agro onwards to a speed he was almost certain would leave the horse damaged, he stood up, tensing every muscle in his body. Then he leapt for one wing, praying to every spirit he knew that he would make it.

He did. Barely. Clinging to that great beast's membrane for dear life put a lot of things in perspective, and even a ground covered in sand is very, very hard. Wander carefully scaled the wing, hoping that his limbs wouldn't tear off from the sheer strain.

Finally reaching the creature's back, he drew his sword. Noting a white glow emanating from behind one fin, he clambered towards it. Saying a prayer to the spirits, he drove the sword's point downwards again and again and again. _All I do is for you, Mono, _he thought. Memories of her came unbidden to his mind.

_...Mono's smile..._

...Mono's softness...

...Mono's warmth...

...Mono's sorrow...

Black fluid spurted from the wound, drenching him. It didn't matter. All he could think about was his lost love. Her voice echoed in his mind.

_..."Don't weep for me. This must be done..."_

The colossus gave one last great cry as its strength ebbed away under Wander's relentless assault.

Relief flooded over him as his prey plummeted to the ground, gave one last twitch, and lay still.

Shadow consumed the fallen worm's corpse. In flight it had been almost majestic. Now, it was only meat rotting in the sun. Dark tendrils reached up from the corpse and tore through his body as though trying to rip his very heart out. Let them; that part of him died with Mono.

* * *

_Stirring as if from a restless sleep._

"Wander...?"

Eyes opened wide in shock.

"WANDER!

Trying to rise. Can't quite fight the relentless pull of gravity.

"Don't it, Wander. I'm not worth this."

The sound of her voice like gentle summer rain on a parched field.

"You don't understand..."

Grasping, reaching out for something that can never be attained. Something pure and beautiful.

"Let me sleep!"

...

Gone now.

Just like blowing out a candle.

* * *

He blinked. That conversation had never happened. At least, not that he remembered. He sometimes had strange dreams after returning to the shrine. He climbed up off the sun-warmed stone, wincing at a sudden twinge in his back. _I must've pulled something during the fight. And my head aches something terrible._

Dormin's voice, once again, rumbled through the shrine. Barely hearing his new "orders", Wander held up the sword, turned it, nodded resignedly at the place where the light reflecting off it focused.

Three to go. 


End file.
